1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet type recording apparatus using a line type recording head.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink jet type recording apparatus, the ink within the head nozzle may be dried and increased in viscosity to be solidified. Further, paper powder, dust, and bubbles may be mixed with the ink in the nozzle, with the result that the recording quality deteriorates due to defective ink discharge caused by clogging. Thus, the recording heads needs to be cleaned.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-201028 discusses a cleaning mechanism which forcibly suctions ink out of a recording head for recovery. This cleaning mechanism is equipped with a suction port shorter than the entire nozzle arrays of the recording head, and performs suction on the entire nozzles while moving the suction port in the direction in which the nozzle arrays are formed.
There is known a line type recording head in which a plurality of nozzle chips are regularly arranged in a staggered arrangement. Usually, a predetermined gap is provided between the nozzle chips adjacent to each other in each array of the staggered arrangement. In some cases, this gap has a height different from that of the nozzle surface. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, to protect the electrode, there may be provided a sealing portion 123 consisting of a protrusion protruded beyond the nozzle surface 122. If an attempt is made to apply the suction mechanism illustrated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-201028 to a recording head of such a structure, the following problem will be involved.
While the suction port is being moved along the nozzle arrays, the suction port is raised when it gets over the sealing portion 123 of a different height. In the direction in which the suction port moves, the position of the sealing portion 123 in a nozzle chip array is that of the nozzle array 121 in the adjacent nozzle chip array. When a portion of the suction port climbs onto the sealing portion 123 of a nozzle chip array, the entire suction port is raised, and the intimate contact between the nozzles of the adjacent nozzle chip array and the suction port becomes rather incomplete, which may lead to defective suction.